Too much

A state observation for two days because our county is in trouble for test scores (this week)
A husband in emergency for many hours over the weekend
A migraine that just won't go away is now going on two weeks
Graduate School
Getting really frustrated

Research

I would like to say that I have had a tremendous amount of difficulty finding traditional research on my topic. Also, I have had issues getting articles for free. Frustration level with these issues is quickly rising!!!!!

Interesting conversation

On Saturday evening, I was helping to host a charity event for a family in great need. While at this even I began a conversation with a fellow teacher. This fellow teacher began to explain to me that she had recently had a dialogue with her principal. Her principal had responded to an email regarding parents volunteering.
When the teacher stated that she was going to have parents volunteer in her classroom for the year, the principal stated that she was not going to have parents in her building. This struck me as very interesting because of some of the research I have found with parent involvement and communication. If there is a direct correlation between these, parent communication and student achievement, then there should reason for this principal to have parents involved. Furthermore, this school has very unsuccessfully maintained consistent growth and achievement test scores. Therefore, if this principal would allow parents to be invovled then how might her student achievement increase?

Simply Stated

This research is making me look deep into the question I want answered. It is also confusing me because I thought I knew my question. As of this evening I am sincerely confused and a touch frustrated. The research on parent communication is harder to find than I thought or I am not searching the right way. Then, when I do find an article that I believe would be very helpful it is not available on ERIC to print off without first paying for it. My frustrations are rising and I am in need of some help focusing my question more.........

When I inrease positive communication with parents I hope to see more parents involved with their child's education.
But, what if that is not the correct answer and what if that is not what I should be working on. What if it is increasing the responsibility of my students. Maybe I should be asking, If I incorporate positive communication for responsibility my students will be more responsible in their daily work and efforts.
Then again, what if positive communication is the answer to making happier students. So, through the use of positive communication I hope to see happier students who are more interested in their learning.
I guess that at this point I am struggling.

Module 1

Tonight I finished my module one homework. I must say that I enjoyed reading and comparing the two studies. What sticks out most in my mind regarding action research is how well the results can impact your classroom. The study showed that it was possible to increase student relationships in a variety of fashions given cetain opportunities. This in turn increased their social and or academic levels.
I believe that if my results demonstrate an increase in parent communication and students having a positive desire to achieve more academically then my students will become better students (academically and possibly socially) resulting in parents that are happier with the provided education.
What do you think the results will show?

Understanding Part II

Okay...
I think that what I really want to know is if I use positive communication with parents regarding their child's education will it change the climate in my classroom. The climate would hopefully change to students becoming more interested and excited about what is happening in the classroom and their learning. The communication would sound something like this, "I want to let you know that today your child shared their writing with the class because it contained great details. I believe that he/she is making tremendous growth in their writing and I am looking forward to reading more from their writer's notebook." The day that I make this phone call, I will also send a certificate home with the student also noting their accomplishment. I would be sure that all students are included in this process even if it is something small with their behavior. This could sound like, "I wanted to tell you that today Joe was able to get along with his peers at his table. I know that he has been working hard in this area and I think he did great today!"
Possibly then, I want to know if this kind of communication is implemented in my classroom if the students will become more excited about the classroom and also if the parents would be more open to communication from the school.

Understanding

I have now finished the first two chapters of our text. After completing chapter 2, I now have a better understanding of what is expected during this project. I believe that my goal is to increase parent communication through the use of phone calls regarding positive behavior in the classroom. The thought is that if positive phonecalls are made in coordination with a "Good for You" certificate the parents will feel more welcome to have open communication. I believe that if the results are as positive as I hope they will be then parent communication will become more frequent on both ends (the parents and myself).

Idea

Well this weekend allowed me the opportunity to bounce my research idea off of a former asst. superintendent. He was thrilled with my idea and gave me some great ideas on ways to find the existing research on the ways positive communication will affect parental communication as well as the climate in the classroom. I am truly hoping that I will be able to find what I need!